This invention relates to a dental post which can be securely inserted into a tooth stub. The dental post has an angularly oriented head portion which extends from the tooth stub for improved retention of a dental restoration built onto the tooth stub.
In restoring dentition, it is well known in the field of dentistry to build up a dental prosthetic structure onto a tooth stub for replacement of missing dentition. The tooth stub is initially prepared by cutting it down to provide a suitable support on which the prosthetic structure will be placed. A bore is formed into the tooth stub in which a dental post is inserted. The dental post generally includes grooves formed thereabout for improving the retention of the post in the bore formed in the tooth stub. Suitable dental cement is used for such retention. A portion of the dental post extends upwardly above the surface of the tooth stub so that as the dental prosthetic structure is formed or built up onto the tooth stub, it is retained in place on the tooth stub by means of the extending portion of the dental post.
Numerous types of dental posts have been suggested in the prior art. Some of these include a thread peripherally formed about a cylindrical pin into which the dental cement can penetrate in order to provide additional retention of the dental post in the bore. In the aforementioned parent application, there is described a dental post which includes helical flutes formed into the external surface of the cylindrical pin. The flutes have a pitch which is greater than the length of the pin. Some of the flutes can have greater width and depth size than other flutes. In some dental pins, there is also provided a vent to permit the escape of the air within the bore during insertion of the post into the cement prepared bore of the tooth stub.
The aforementioned dental posts provide improvements with respect to the retention of the post in the bore. However, the extending head portion of the post is also utilized for the retention of the prosthetic structure onto the tooth stub. Accordingly, appropriate attention must be given to the head portion to be sure that it provides sufficient retention of the superstructure onto the tooth stub.